Hey everyone
I have today bought my first ever flute - an instrument I have wanted to play for a long time, and I am just wondering if anyone has any tips for me? Especially embochure - mine is horrendous!

I've bought the "tune a day" book too!

Thanks all

My honest answer is for you to get some lessons with a specialist flute teacher - even if it's just a few. Yes, you can get books which describe flute embouchure etc in general terms, but a teacher will be able to relate this to what you are doing and to your individual mouth/lips/jaw (which is something a book cannot do).

Go to someone who is either a first study flautist or has flute to a high standard, rather than a general woodwind teacher. Some general woodwind teachers can teach flute very well, but there are a lot who primarily teach/play a different instrument and have never really been taught a solid flute technique themselves. My first flute teacher taught dodgy technique and, although this wasn't initially a problem (and some people do get right the way through the intermediate grades with poor technique), it has meant that I've later had to spend a long time unlearning incorrect technique in order to improve.

Congratulations on getting your flute, and I hope you will enjoy it.

I agree with Flossie. I've had a flute for quite a while but never really did much playing on it. I had a few lessons but could never really pick it up. I've now had a couple of lessons with a flute specialist and seem to be taking to it much better now. I think the flute would be very hard to try to pick up on your own so lessons would be a real benefit. I'm having lessons in the hope that I can get to a high standard and then know how to teach it properly.

Good luck! Lucid

My tips are 1) find a good teacher and 2) try the internet for instructional videos. Regarding embouchure, I found this one (and the rest of the series) helpful: Galway Masterclass - emboushure and tone

I began my flute playing two years ago with an old instrument and a tutor book. I postponed getting a teacher because I know how to read music and honestly thought I didn't need one. The next step was to buy a new flute in the hope that this would help solve all the problems that were appearing.

Wrong! I managed to learn the first five or six notes OK, and got quite excited at the little tunes I was able to play. But middle register notes would not come. I also then worried about developing bad habits in my playing, and so found myself a teacher who only teaches flute and music theory (and fife to little ones). Progress was immediate, and she not only corrected embouchure and posture, but helped me with breathing, articulation and phrasing.

So, yes, get yourself a good teacher right away . Mine lent me a book which I found helpful as a supplement to her teaching - The Gilbert Legacy, by A S Floyd. Lots of tips, photographs and examples.

I agree with all the former speakers. Find yourself a good teacher!

I am grade 6 now and even though I excercise like mad, there are all the little things my teacher finds who propel me still further every other fortnight. And I promise you, you wouldn't even notice until you are told.

too. I have lessons with a flute specialist, and he also loaned me a book (which he said was the best of all the publications that he had seen) to help me with my embouchure in between lessons. It's called Illustrated Fluteplaying, by Robin Soldan and Jeanie Mellersh; it tells you what to do and how to do it properly, but in a humourous, light-hearted way. But there is no substitute for a good teacher.